[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E464-E465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION CONDEMNING RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION AND 
                          INTOLERANCE IN INDIA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 16, 2005

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Mr. Pitts and 
myself to introduce this Resolution to condemn the alleged statements 
and actions of complacency by the government authorities in Gujarat, 
led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in the face of the religious 
persecution of the Gujarati people.
  In February of 2002, India experienced its greatest human rights 
crisis in a decade: orchestrated violence against Muslims in the state 
of Gujarat that claimed at least 2,000 lives in a matter of days. Three 
years after that horrific incident, Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister 
of Gujarat has been indicted by various Indian and International human 
rights organizations for lending his hand to the violence.
  Mr. Modi himself has not been shy about proudly professing his anti-
Christian, anti-Muslim, and anti-tribal stances. He has repeatedly 
dehumanized the Muslim population of his state by accusing them of 
treachery; he has actively sought to interfere in the practice of the 
Christian faith in Gujarat, and he has caused wide-scale displacement 
of indigenous populations in the State in the face of stiff popular 
resistance. I find Mr. Modi's actions to be of the most reprehensible 
sort.
  In an article in the Hindu Times on March 2, 2005, former Indian 
President K.R. Narayanan stated that ``there was a `conspiracy' between 
the BJP governments at the Centre and the state behind the 2002 Gujarat 
riots . . .''. Further, a number of Indian human rights organizations, 
international human rights organizations, and a former Supreme Court 
Justice all recognize Chief Minister Modi's complicity in the violence.
  He has attacked Muslims and Christians with vile venom, and according 
to both India's highest court and many international human rights 
groups, has condoned terrible, violent religious hate crimes, all the 
while, shielding those said to have committed them. In fact, in a 
scathing indictment of Mr. Modi, the Supreme Court of India referred to 
the Chief Minister and his government as ``the modern day Neros''. 
Moreover, in a recent unprecedented order, the Supreme Court of India 
ordered the reopening of all the criminal cases that Mr. Modi has 
closed, regarding over 2000 police cases in which the non-Hindu victims 
filed reports of rapes, killings, and destruction of their property.
  Such actions by high ranking government officials of any religion are 
unacceptable and must not be tolerated.

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  I urge my colleagues to join me in condemning religious intolerance 
and promoting religious freedom, so that others may see what our great 
democracy stands for.

                          ____________________